


meant to be, meant to find each others

by weavirtue



Category: Dancing On Ice RPF, Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Relationship, Long-Term Relationship(s), Old School, Pen Pals, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Work In Progress, Writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-07 02:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weavirtue/pseuds/weavirtue
Summary: Tessa Virtue was 10 years old when she arrived in New York City. She was ten year old when she started school in a new one, where everyone was more sassy and haughty than the others. Tessa Virtue was ten years old when she realised that she had no friends and was not even close to making one. She was still ten years old, when her mother forced her to sit at the dinning table talking about school and everything that had been going on lately with her mom. She was ten years old, when her life was about to change.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever multi-chapters fiction ever. I have no idea how long it will take me to write every chapter, but I want to try it. I'm sorry in advance if this entire thing sucks.

Everything started on a Tuesday afternoon, in the cold and windy streets of the busiest city in the world. The city that never sleeps. Tessa Virtue, 10 years old had just landed in a city she didn’t know, a city she already disliked as much as her pre-teen could. Looking around herself, Tessa found herself intimidated and scared. She was alone, completely lost in the biggest airport she had ever been to. Where was her mom? thought Tessa.She was supposed to pick her up as soon as her plane landed. She had promised and once again, she had failed her own daughter. Tessa decided to get herself back together and walked towards the luggage claim area, following the arrows and signs on the ceiling. She waiting there until her bright red, white leafs came to her, grabbing it she then rolled it out to the exit, following people.

 

Tessa was the youngest of four, Kevin, Casey and Jordan. She had always been pushed to be stronger, taller, smarter — better. She smiled a little thinking about her siblings. She knew she would see her sister very soon, but being separated from her was the hardest thing Tessa had ever done. All she wanted was to run back and get back on a plane to London, Canada. She walked past the automatic door and spotted her mom right away. Choosing to act like the adult she was not, she walked slowly, head held high and smiled politely to her mother. She stopped in front of her, and hugged her fast and clean. She didn’t want to think her mother was forgiven for what she had done to their family.

 

Kate tried to take her suitcase, and roll in down but Tessa refused and started walking in the general direction of the parkings. She was upset and sad and she wanted her mom to know it. She felt as if she had been robbed. Nobody but her siblings had asked her how she felt about the situation, about moving baby Tessa all the way to New York. Nobody cared enough to ask her if she wanted to stay with her dad in Canada or follow her mom, they just assumed it was what she wanted. Sure, Tessa was closer to her mom, but she was closer to Canada, and her house, and her friends, and skating and her siblings than anything or anyone else. She knew, deep down, that her sister was tagging along because Tessa was here. She had overheard her talking to their dad. She had asked what would happen to Tess, and as soon as her dad had told her that she would move with her mom, she had decided that she would as well.

 

“Munchkin?” Asked Kate as soon as they were seated in the car. Tessa shook her head and turned to look outside, forehead pressed against the window. Her small hand reached out for her backpack, where she pulled off the headphone her sister gave her before she left the house with the iPod she had received at Christmas. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, and even less her mother right now because she knew that as soon as that invisible line was crossed she wouldn’t be nice and she had promised her dad that she would be nice and polite. She would wait until they were at the new apartment.

 

* * *

 

Once the car was turned off, Tessa jumped out of the car, taking her backpack with her. She knew where to go based on what her sister and mother had told her. Without waiting on her mom, she turned right and then left to get to the elevators and pressed the arrow pointing up, waiting patiently, for the iron cage to get there. By the time it came, her mother was there as well. The both entered and Kate put her hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure Tessa that everything would be okay. Tess shrugged her off, huffing and moving away.

 

They reached their floor and walked into their loft, and Tessa could not deny how pretty and luminous it was. She could see herself be happy here, dammit. “Your room is down there.” Kate pointed in the direction of the hallway. She nodded, smiled a little and took her suitcase and backpack to the room where she found her own furniture. Everything from her room back in London had been shipped the day before she left, and was ready for her. Upon entering the room, tears were running down her cheeks. Tessa dropped everything and ran to her bed, jumping on it and burrowing her face in the teddy bear that still smelled like her dad and her sister.

 

Rolling onto her side, she saw her mom looking at her from the doorway, they always had this rule at home, on how you were not allowed to enter someone’s room without their permission, and without thinking Tessa nodded at her mom, gibing her the silent permission she needed to enter the room. “I’m sorry, munchkin.” Tessa shrugged and looked at her mother, pretending they were in Canada, in her room, with her family instead of this city, where all Tessa knew was her mom. “You didn’t let me choose. You took that choice away from me, you took my voice away from me, mom.” Pushing herself up, Tessa curled her legs up, leaning on the wall behind her. She looked straight in the eyes of her mother. “How could you do that, mom? How could you do the first and most important thing you taught me away from me? You decided for me. You and Dad.” Kate tried to talk, but Tessa held her hand up, right in her face. “You don’t get to talk now, Mom.” She pulled herself up and started to walk back and forth. “You made the decision for me to come with you but what if I didn’t want to come. What about me, mom? What am I supposed to do? be miserable until you realised that you messed up our entire family? I don’t want to be here with you. I wanna be with Daddy, and Jordan, and Casey and Kevin. Not you.”

 

She walked out of her room, slamming the door behind her. She had no other choice but to walk in circle in the living room. She wasn’t allowed to go out by herself and frankly, she didn’t want to. She sat down in the living room, near the window, observing what was going on outside. A shudder ran down her spine, when her mother entered the living room. She had always been able to feel whenever she was near and it was the first time she wanted this connection to go away. She wanted to be able to forget where she was, with whom she was. “Tessa.. I know your dad and I didn’t do this the right way. I can see how terrified you are. We simply wanted to protect you and not make you choose between your dad and I. We both knew it would have broken you up to choose.” Kate moved closer slowly, as if Tessa was a scared animal and needed to be approached cautiously. She sat down behind Tessa, hoping to have a positive reaction from her daughter. When Tessa didn’t move away or recoil, she moved her arms around Tessa and pulled her gently into her most motherly embrace, pressing her face in the tiny space where neck met shoulder.

 

* * *

 

 

Tessa had fallen asleep in her mother arms, and as much as she wanted to be tough, she was still the ten years old, completely enamoured with her mother and unable to be upset with her for more than a few hours. She turned in her sleep, pressing her face in her mother’s shoulder. “Mom..?” She waited until she got a response which she got in the form of a grunt which made her giggle. “I’m sorry for earlier and I love you.” Kate pressed tiny kissed to her face and smiled. “I love you too, Munchkin.”

 

* * *

 

Tessa walked in the apartment after a day full of school. She called out for her mom, without getting any responses which made her frown. Her mother was always home when Tessa would get there, or she would always tell her if she would be away. She prepared herself some snacks and started on her homework.

Deep in thoughts, reading the latest chapter she had been instructed to read. She jumped and almost fell off the chair she was sitting on when her mom touched her shoulder. “Breathe, Tutu. It’s just me.” Tessa relaxed and let herself lean on her mom. “Where were you? I don’t remember you telling me you wouldn’t be here.”She smirked at her mom, knowing she had caught her doing something she wouldn’t normally do.

“I’m just worried about you..” Kate bent down and kissed her forehead, caressing her cheek slowly. “I know you don’t have friends at school, so… I was thinking.. ” Kate was not someone who hesitated. She knew what she wanted and how she wanted it to be done. Tessa grew more and more scared by the seconds. “Maybe, we should find you a pen-pal friend.”

Tessa had never ever thought in her life that her mother would say that. Was she actually considering the idea of Tessa writing to a complete stranger? communicating their address to get letters? She must have not understand her. “Mom, what did you just say?”

Kate sat down, next to her daughter and pulled up her computer showing her the website she had been browsing. “Maybe it could help you, to find some online/pen friends. It might be easier for you to create friendship this way.” Before Tessa could completely comprehend what was going on, she was jumping in her mother eyes. She had always, always like letters and the idea of writing to someone was everything she could dream of. “Oh Mommy, I would love to do that.” She smiled so brightly at her mom, that all Kate could do was smile back. “I will just have a say in which one you choose, and then I’ll let you handle it.”

 

* * *

 

Tessa had been allowed to use her mother’s computer but only to look up for her perfect pen-pal friend. She knew her mother had some reservation over this, but all Tessa could think about was the amount of letters she would get to write an receive. She wanted to find the perfect one. She spent hours and hours, browsing all the websites they had found, until one day.

It had been two weeks since her mother had agreed to this situation. two weeks, during which Tessa had not found anyone she was remotely interested in. She knew she couldn’t choose based on interest, because the whole point of exchanging letters was to get to know the others. She stumble onto a new post on this website and immediately smiled when she realised that person, that boy was from Ontario, just like her. She clicked on the small question mark icon, her smile growing when she saw that the small pictogram showing if that boy was still “free” was still green. She send him her profile and waited. She was walking back and forth in front of the computer when the ping from the notification resonated in the entire living room, making her jump.

 

 

 

 

> _Dear Tessa,_
> 
> _My Name is Scott and I would love to be your pen-pal._  
> 
>  
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Scott Moir._

 

 


	2. 2

“Tessa, you heard me. I want to read those letters, maybe not all of them, but I want to know what’s going on between you and Scott. understood?” Tessa smiled and nodded at her mom, for once she didn’t feel like she was stuck in a life she didn’t want. She had her voice back, her choice back and her mom had learned pretty quickly that Tessa could be stubborn in the worst way this past week. Even if their relationship had found its complicity back, it was far from what it used to be. Kate had broken the trust Tessa had in her mother, and had broken her daughter confidence. Tessa had to rebuilt herself, in a city she didn’t know where she had nobody. Therefore, Tessa got stronger, bolder and more independent.

“Mom, I had understood the first time you told me that, you know 2 weeks ago when we talked seriously about this entire idea.” She rolled her eyes, but kept the sigh in. “You are the one who proposed the pen-pal thing in the first place, you should have thought of that before proposing it to me.”

* * *

Sitting at her desk, Tessa was leaning above a new white sheet. Several pages of white papers sprawled around her, on the desk, on the floor. It was like a hurricane had passed. She had started her letter over and over again, not finding the right way to start. Sighing, she pushed herself out of her chair, walking to her bed and falling face first in her mattress. Why is it so hard?! thought the youngest Virtue. 

Tessa had taken some time off of her letters, away from her room even. She went for a walk in the busy street of New York, came back and immediately wrote her letters. She didn’t stop to think about what she was writing, she just wrote down what she wanted to tell Scott, her new friend, her only friend. That’s how Kate Virtue found her daughter, furiously writing on a piece of paper, the tip of her tongue sticking out and her hand holding her head. A small chuckled escaped Kate, at the usual pose Tessa would take anytime she had to be extra focused, lost in her thoughts. 

 

 

> ** NEW YORK CITY, USA  
>  ** **03/22/99**
> 
> _Dear Scott,_
> 
> _My mom finally reviewed your account and profile. That was the condition, you know, for me to get a pen-pal friend. She was anxious when she found out you were a boy but I convinced her that you being Canadian meant more than the fact that you were a boy. It’s not like we’ll end up married with kids, anyway._
> 
> _Sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. My name is Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue, but you can call me Tessa. I am 10 years old, and used to live in London, Ontario, Canada, now.. I live in New York and I hate it, as much as people hate broccolis. My mom got a job offer in the fashion industry and as the youngest of 4, they didn’t give me any choice and moved me to America. America! Can you believe? I feel like I’m betraying my country just by being here._
> 
> _My sister, Jordan, is soon coming to New York as well. She acts as if it was her dream to come here but I know the only reason she’s moving is because of me. I overheard her and my dad talked about it. I know she asked my dad where I would live and as soon as he replied, she said she would follow me because she would not abandon her baby sister. So I guess I’m lucky to have my sister with me, at least. My two older brothers, Casey and Kevin are both too busy with school and hockey and I don’t really mind, they are living their dream at home._
> 
> _Mom forced me to befriend people, but people at school are so stupid and smug and ugh, I don’t even want to know about them. She gave me a choice, either go into one of those “make friends” group or find a pen-pal, and I’m sure you can guess what I chose. I have always liked to write and received letters. I like the way it is anonymous, but also really personal. I think the key to friendship is to find someone who will you know as much as you know yourself, and still be there to support you._
> 
> _I want to find that person, because I think life would be more exciting if you’re with someone than being by yourself. Would you like and try to be my person, Scott? Could we be the amazing duo we see in every movies? Virtue Moir, Tessa and Scott. It looks nice on paper, maybe I should ask my mom to say it out loud to see if it sounds good as well._
> 
> _Sincerely,  
>  _ _Tessa Virtue._

 

Scott was watching TV when her mom dropped a letter in his lap, a smug smile on her face. Scott looked down and when he saw the New York City stamp on it, he hurried to open it. He knew that before getting any letters from Tessa, he had to wait to pass the double check from her mother. He didn’t want to get his hope up but it was the first he had been interested in a pen-pal. Her mom had forced him, just like his older brothers to do it, and so he did. He never thought he would find someone’s he would actually liked. He opened her letter and read it through faster than he had ever read.

He smiled at the small anecdote she had written and was really excited to reply. He looked up at the time, and frowned when he saw it was almost time for him to leave for practice but he still decided to write her a small letter. He would write her a proper and longer one later on, after practice.

 

 

> **ILDERTON, CANADA  
>  ** **03/26/99 - #1**
> 
> _Dear Tessa,_
> 
> _Can I call you T? I like giving nicknames to my friends, and if we’re to write letters to each other’s, I will consider you my friend. I’ll find a better nickname later on, because T is kind of lame. As said previously on the website, my name is Scott and I am 12 years old. I live in Ilderton, Ontario, Canada as you saw on my profile and my mom forced all of her kids to get in pen-pal. My older brothers, Danny and Charlie didn’t try very hard to make it as cool as she made it to be, but I really want to try, and see if I can really make a connection with someone that I’ve never met before._
> 
> _I am sorry to hear that you had to move to New York, I would have loved to meet you one day, maybe if we are really good friend in the future, our parents might let us meet. Like those cheesy “First Time Meeting My Best Friend” video on Youtube._
> 
> _Your Friend,  
>  Scott Moir._
> 
> _P.S. I am sorry this is so short and written in a bad handwriting, I was late for Hockey practice but really wanted to post this on the way there._

 

Alma was waiting for Scott at the end of practice, and never in her life had she seen Scott get out of the arena as fast as this day. He ran out and jumped in the car before she had realised the practice was finished. “Mom! Drive!” Scott called out on her mom, he had never been a patient kid, but today was another level of impatience. When his mom slowed down in front of the Moir’s Skate Shop, she could heard him groaned. He had forgotten about his promise to help his uncle organise the news skates they just had received. “Mooooom” He turned in his seat to look at her. “Do I have to? I wanna go home to write to Tessa.”

He saw his mom’s eyes widens and he smirked, quite proud of himself. “Haven’t you send a letter right before practice?” He nodded at the question, and was ready to respond when his uncle walked out of the shop. Scott let himself fall back against his seat. “ I did, but it was a really short one, and I told her that she would get another one really close to the first because I had to leave for practice.” He sighed, shook his head and got off the car. Scott knew that the faster he started the sooner he would be out of here.

After an hour and a half, Scott was ready to leave the shop. His mom drove them to their house and before she could tell him anything, Scott was running to his room, slamming his door shut behind him. He sat at his desk, took his best paper and thought of what to write first. Looking around for Tessa’s letter, he realised he had forgotten it downstairs when he left for practice. He ran down and was about to catch it when he saw her mom reading the second letter, right he had also forgotten to give Kate’s letter to his mom. He snatched the letter he actually cared about and ran back to his room and started writing.

 

 

> **ILDERTON, CANADA  
>  ** **03/27/99 - #2**

> _Dear T,_
> 
> _I couldn’t wait any more days before writing you this. I had the best news today, literally the best one. I’m going to Hockey Camp this years and it is going to be all the way in Vancouver! Can you believe, Vancouver?! It has to be at, 5 hours by plane at least. It’s a two weeks camp. I don’t know if I’ll be able to write to you, but I promise to write the letters and send them as soon as possible._
> 
> _I hope you’re as excited as I am right now, because as my friend, you should. Sorry — I don’t want to come as bossy, but I don’t really have friends either. I mean, I do, but it’s never been the great and big friendship everyone talks about. I mostly hang out with my teammates and my brothers, because I feel like i can only be myself with them. you know what I mean._
> 
> _I’m sorry my first letter was so bad, by the way. I was in a hurry but still wanted to post the letter the day I got yours. It won’t happen ever again. I promise._
> 
> _Has your sister arrived yet? You were telling me how you just moved to NYC, is it better? Have you forgiven your parents? Tell me all about it._
> 
> _My mom is over the moon that I found a pen-pal friend, she might add her letter on her own for your mother because she wants me, read here us, to be safe and do this the correct way, which means for her that we need to write at least 100 letters each. It such a big number, but my mom says that if we commit to the idea it will go by really fast and make our bond really strong. She also said that if we can go as far as that, she’ll allow me to give you my number if you wanted to do that. Maybe, Tess, we’ll break the distance after all._
> 
> _Your friend,    
>  _ _Scott Moir_

 


End file.
